"The Labour grandee was a regular visitor to the flat in a discreet gated block with stunning sea views until it was sold last year. The peer bought his two-bedroom holiday apartment in the upmarket East Cliff area of Bournemouth in 1987. One former neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: He was sometimes seen at the flat with much younger boys in their teens or early 20s. At the time it was definitely noticed, but no one talked about things like that in public back then.’

Then MP Greville Janner with young schoolchildren when he was President of the Board of Deputies and lay leader of the British Jewish community

His crimes are known to the forces of law and order in the city that he represents. Yet the local police chief, a close friend and fellow Freemason, works to ensure that he is never brought to justice.

At one point, when the ‘untouchable’ Parliamentarian is threatened with exposure, in a messy court case, local detectives falsify criminal evidence in an effort to protect him.

Soon afterwards, the politician sends ‘heavies’ to knock on the doors of witnesses, in the hope of intimidating them into staying silent.

Then allies in City Hall instruct staff to shred documents that might result in his repellent activities becoming public.

Finally, the police chief launches an organised campaign to destroy the reputation of a brave whistle-blower who is attempting to expose the whole, stinking business.

As a result, the abuse continues unchecked, on an industrial scale. Dozens, if not scores, more vulnerable children are abused. Many still bear the scars to this day.

In light of the ensuing controversy, which has seen more than 30 extra victims come forward, the legal dossier, which I [Guy Adams] obtained a copy of this week, makes explosive reading.

At the heart of the alleged conspiracy is a man called Michael Hirst. He was the Chief Constable of Leicestershire for much of the 1980s, and went on to become a director of the private security company Group 4.

According to the legal papers, which date from the early 1990s, Mr Hirst just happened to be ‘very close friends’ with Greville Janner. Both men, the dossier alleges, were Freemasons.

As a result of their relationship, it claims that Janner was protected from prosecution — even though his ‘activities with young boys’ were ‘well known by police’.

Although they knew that the MP had ‘been at it for years,’ junior officers said he was ‘never arrested, because strings are always pulled up above’.

At Leicester’s Holiday Inn, where the MP often stayed, the documents claim a witness ‘remembered the management closing the swimming pool to hotel guests, allowing Janner to swim in the pool with a young boy’.

As far away as Scotland, an alleged victim approached staff at Edinburgh West Police Station in July 1991 and ‘made allegations of being buggered by Greville Janner while … on holiday for two weeks in Scotland alone with Janner’.

A witness [in another court case] claimed to have been repeatedly abused by Janner during the 1970s, when he’d been aged between 14 and 16... He claimed to have then had an illegal sexual relationship with Janner which lasted for almost two years.

The man showed the jury affectionate letters from the MP, talked of being given expensive presents by him and told how he’d been taken to the Houses of Parliament, Labour HQ, and a string of expensive hotels.

On more than one occasion, police officers said “you must be the only bloke in Leicester who doesn’t know what he [Janner] gets up to."